Carroll officials restore arts council’s 2025 funding

The Carroll County Arts Council is now slated to get the entire $43,000 in funding proposed in the county’s $541.6 million operating budget for fiscal 2025. Commissioners are set to adopt the budget Thursday.

During previous budget discussions, commissioners had reduced the arts council’s funding from $43,000 to $10,000, but at a May 14 budget work session commissioners voted 4-1 to restore the full amount.

District 4 Commissioner Michael Guerin was the lone vote against restoring the funding. Guerin made no comment when the motion passed, but did shake his head, indicating frustration.

Frustration has abounded in recent months as the commissioners have been forced to find ways to eliminate a $12.6 million deficit for fiscal 2025, which starts July 1.

“The Carroll County Arts Council is grateful to the Board of Commissioners for fully restoring our FY25 county funding,” Lynne Griffith, executive director of the nonprofit stated in an email on Wednesday. “The Arts Council drives economic development throughout the county and provides vital services to residents.

“This funding allows us to continue this important work and we are excited to serve all members of the Carroll community in the coming year,” she said.

Griffith asked commissioners at a May 8 public budget hearing to not cut the council’s funding.

“This money will be a wise investment in not only the arts and culture of Carroll but will reap significant economic benefits for all of the county,” she said May 8.

District 5 Commissioner Ed Rothstein was listening.

Rothstein proposed restoring the $33,000 while praising the arts council and its economic impact.

“The responsibilities that the arts center has had has shifted over time,” he said. “There’s value in looking at the decision we made with the arts center in taking away $33,000.

“The impact that they do have can be strong,” he said. “I’m not big into the PEEPshow, but it’s an example of the value they bring in bringing folks together.”

The annual PEEPshow is a fundraising event held at the TownMall of Westminster in which participants enter their sculptures, dioramas, mosaics and crafts that are inspired by PEEPs, the popular marshmallow Easter treats. The 17th annual PEEPshow was held in March, and raised $8,147 for the arts council.

Commissioners had allocated the $33,000 removed from the arts council budget to “self-help” capital projects. This is money recreation councils match and put toward projects and improvements at athletic fields.

At the May 14 budget work session, the board left the $33,000 in the “self-help” budget, where it will remain. They took another $33,000 from the general fund and put it in the arts council’s budget.

In a May 13 interview, Griffith said the arts council’s total budget for the current fiscal year is about $1 million. It received $42,000 in the county’s current operating budget. It also received $201,000 in state funding, and expects the same next year.